A Newbie's Experiment

I've started an experiment today (very unscientific, of course) that will continue for the next 10 shaves (2weeks or so).

My purpose for posting it is:

1. A place to journal
2. Receive feedback from our esteemed shaving elders (fancy way to say more experienced shavers)
3. If anyone reads it and gets just 1 thing to improve their shave, it'll have been worth the time to type it.

Here it is:

I've noticed that I have accumulated a lot of differing techniques and advice from a great many sources. I am not a collector and I'm not into restoration, I simply want a close, comfortable shave. I have been inspired by the barbering textbook/manuals in that these were men who shaved multiple people daily and essentially used nothing but a razor, hone and strop and a couple of very simple tests for keenness of edge.

I propose to take and combine some of the advice and techniques learned into a simple, enjoyable daily routine.

My hypothesis:

I will achieve an enjoyable, comfortable shave with minimal maintenance using the following approach.

1. Beard prep begins in the shower with washing my face then using the facecloth to do a brief hot towel treatment.
2. TGQ cream will provide the best lubrication and least drying effect than cake soap
3. Long strokes are better than short
4. Diagonal positioning of the blade is desirable. (this is the guillotine that honedright mentioned in a previous thread with this difference - heel leading will be easier for much of the face than will tip leading)
5. Starting my strokes used for more difficult areas (ie -chin) further away and continuing with light pressure and the diagonal position of the blade will help give a closer, less irritating shave. (For example, start my XTG pass on the chin by placing the blade half way between ear and chin, take a long stroke and do not stop once I feel resistance - this is where the pulling for me occurs as I stop at the first feeling of resistance and get the blade stuck. By continuing a long, diagonal, light stroke, I will slice through the hair and the result is less passes being needed thus less irritation.
6. Strop between first and second passes (it's in the barbering textbook and must be there for a reason)
7. Edge maintenance will be done using the thumbpad and thumbnail test as supplied by Joe Lerch (I'll add a link later to the summary he once provided).

I will say this, I tried this today with a result that is very satisfying. I want to give it a series of 10 shaves to see if I can duplicate the results consistently.

I am aware that to many, this is a "well, no (blank) Sherlock" type of thing. And I certainly don't propose this as the end all, be all of shaving. I'm simply chronicling what my experience is toward a shave that I can be happy with. Everyone's definition of that type of a shave and method of achieving it is their own.

I expect a full report young man -- double spaced and quality bond paper. Seriously, it sounds great --trying to figure out the long vs short stroke thing myself. If you watch the Turkish and Tunisian videos it seems those professionals like short strokes so I don't know. Later gator,

Justin

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jaegerhund

I expect a full report young man -- double spaced and quality bond paper. Seriously, it sound great --trying to figure out the long vs short stroke thing myself. If you watch the Turkish and Tunisian videos it seems those professionals like short strokes so I don't know. Later gator,

Justin

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MLS or APA guidelines?? :roflmao

Oh, thanks for saying "young man" :)

Steve, you're quite welcome ,young man. No matter what your age, if you're not dead your pretty young. In this wacky internet age, I sometimes forget about the rigors of those guidelines--- so pick one ---they probably have an icon you just click on your word processor that does it for ya. Guidelines? making my fingers sweat --Mrs. Humbacker (English teacher ) looking over my shoulder. Take it easy,

Justin

I'm gonna come right out of the gate and contradict #3. Short strokes are ideologically a better idea, but I've seen long strokes work and used them occasionally myself. But it's your shave.

Also disagree with part of #4. Tip leading is recommended, not heel.

And notice the lack of stretching technique mentioned. This is an essential element to the happy shave and can drastically affect your outcome.

Like I say though, this is your log and your shaves so you'll do it how you like. Just some food for thought.

X

X:

OK, you made a good point. I AM going to stretch the skin, I simply forgot to mention that. So I'm glad you said something. I guess I just take that as a granted.

As to heel vs. tip. I've tried both and find that on some areas of my face, I simply can't get it with the tip. Example. I'm fine with shaving the sides with the tip leading but for some reason doing so on the chin increases my risk of cutting myself. When I do my chin with the heel leading, I find it to be safer. Can I say what makes the difference? Nope.

As to long vs. short strokes. On the isolated times that I've used short strokes, it wasn't a good experience from an irritation point of view (my skin is fairly sensitive). However, perhaps it would be a good idea if I broke it into a group of 5 shaves with short and 5 with long to compare.

You just fulfilled #2 of my purpose for posting and I'm grateful for that. Let's see how it goes.

I think this is a great idea. I'd love to see a sticky or blog, "The Road To Straight Razor Shaving" written by a beginner. Start with a brief why you started this, what equipment you chose to start with and why and then chronicle your adventures, day by day. What worked what didn't work. Explain why you think it worked or didn't.

There could be a sister thread where you come to ask us questions and seek advice but your main thread would be locked so only you would post/reply like a diary and it's won't get clogged or off track with our commemnts. Just a nice, smooth progression of your path.

Obviously it would only be one persons experiences but it may serve as a guide to other newbies and they will see that any one method is not the oath to go. One needs to experiment and try different approaches to find what works for him.

If you were willing to do this maybe one of the moderator or administartors could give you your own locked thread to post to.

Tony

Yeah, steve, maybe you could end up with one of those downloadable ebooks $19.99
-- a soon to be classic

justin

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tony Miller

I think this is a great idea. I'd love to see a sticky or blog, "The Road To Straight Razor Shaving" written by a beginner. Start with a brief why you started this, what equipment you chose to start with and why and then chronicle your adventures, day by day. What worked what didn't work. Explain why you think it worked or didn't.

There could be a sister thread where you come to ask us questions and seek advice but your main thread would be locked so only you would post/reply like a diary and it's won't get clogged or off track with our commemnts. Just a nice, smooth progression of your path.

Obviously it would only be one persons experiences but it may serve as a guide to other newbies and they will see that any one method is not the oath to go. One needs to experiment and try different approaches to find what works for him.

If you were willing to do this maybe one of the moderator or administartors could give you your own locked thread to post to.

Tony

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Tony,

1. What equipment I chose to start with and why?? It'd read like a WSG and TGQ apologetics manual :D

2. In all seriousness, I'm not the guy for this. I'm no one special

3. I've already been at this since November. I think it would be a better thread if it was started by someone just picking up a razor from day 1. It's just that I've been trying isolated ideas. I now want to put some of what I've been learning together in a complete routine, get other's opinions of my results, swap out one or two ideas and try again until I get a shave that I, personally, can consider close, comfortable, enjoyable and simple.

I think you have a great idea, though, for the right person.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jaegerhund

Yeah, steve, maybe you could end up with one of those downloadable ebooks $19.99
-- a soon to be classic

justin

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Anders Larson took care of this in a way.

OK, bear with me. I am purely speculating, as my first razor isn't due at my house until today or tomorrow (the suspense is killing me), but I'll take a stab at the tip vs. heel quandry.

Putting aside any personal stylistic movements, it may be a combination of ergonomics and physics.

Ergonomics, you have your hand close to the heel, while the tip is somewhat distant. The heel, therefore will move in an almost perfect 1:1 ratio with your hand motion. The tip, however, can move faster or slower than the heel based on the movement of your wrist and instantaneous position of the blade. Therefore you have a different control on the heel, than on the tip. Not better or worse, just different.

Physics, the tip is slightly harder to start motion in due to it's being distant (distal) to your hand. The effect is due to rotational inertial, and related to the distance from the center of mass, center or movement and a unit called the polar moment of inertia. This would make the tip a bit less responsive than the heel initially.

Both of these effects are very small, but then, there isn't a big difference between a cut and no-cut with a sharp instrument.

Just my engineer's $0.02.

John

You know something? I've been thinking about this and can see that I typed too soon without thinking things completely through.

I think I originally wanted to just document my personal experience without ever attempting to make an authoritative guide. If some new person, like myself, gleaned one thing that helped them, great but I never wanted to make a definitive resource.

Lynn has made, in my opinion, the ultimate definitive resource. That's the one resource all newbies should own.

I'm going to cancel this ridiculous idea of mine but feel free to opine away on other issues.

Steve, I certainly didn't mean to add any pressure or ruin any fun for ya. Everything I said was in total fun and hate to see you not do something you were raring to do. Now, probably anything I might have said was not important anyway but I wanted to just check myself. Later,

Justin

Hey Justin:

No, neither you nor Tony turned me off to this idea. I just started thinking about how it might look to others as a slap to Lynn or Anders or others.

I totally caught your humor and felt no additional pressure. It's simply a case of my hands typeth faster than my brain thinketh

I just wanted to note something about the tip (point) leading issue (well, I don't want it to be an issue...)
Maybe this is already understood, but the point of the razor can lead without actually touching the face. For instance it may be the center blade or the heel that is touching while the point is still leading. Does that make sense?

Also, as to short or long strokes: the manuals I have recommend short "sawing" strokes. Now before anyone yells "that's dangerous!!" it should be understood that the book doesn't mean a back and forth sawing motion. In fact, anyone who really understands a western style hand saw knows that it is only the forward stroke that does the cutting. The pull back is just to re-set the saw for the next cut. It should also be understood that the sawing motion is not an across cut motion with the razor (that of course would cut the face), but a downward motion relative to the direction of the beard grain.

Hope I didn't hijack :HJ or muddy up this thread. Sometimes I just need to :ziplip:


Scott

Quote:

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Originally Posted by honedright

I just wanted to note something about the tip (point) leading issue (well, I don't want it to be an issue...)
Maybe this is already understood, but the point of the razor can lead without actually touching the face. For instance it may be the center blade or the heel that is touching while the point is still leading. Does that make sense?

Also, as to short or long strokes: the manuals I have recommend short "sawing" strokes. Now before anyone yells "that's dangerous!!" it should be understood that the book doesn't mean a back and forth sawing motion. In fact, anyone who really understands a western style hand saw knows that it is only the forward stroke that does the cutting. The pull back is just to re-set the saw for the next cut. It should also be understood that the sawing motion is not an across cut motion with the razor (that of course would cut the face), but a downward motion relative to the direction of the beard grain.

Hope I didn't hijack :HJ or muddy up this thread. Sometimes I just need to :ziplip:


Scott

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See, I understand how I might choose to do things aren't the "approved" method.

1. It's true the tip doesn't actually hit my face when I do tip forward. I simply find it more difficult and less comfortable to hold the blade tip forward on some parts of the face and as a result tend to cut myself.

2. I probably read the same barber manual (infact, just won a 1950's manual off Ebay and waiting for its arrival) and have tried the short strokes, again not as comfortable but I also understand the movement they are describing to be more of a down and diagonal (not back and forth) stroke.

These are just my experiences (or lack of experiences I suppose, too). In either case, no hijacking has occurred and your input is always welcome.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by steve

Hey Justin:

No, neither you nor Tony turned me off to this idea. I just started thinking about how it might look to others as a slap to Lynn or Anders or others.

I totally caught your humor and felt no additional pressure. It's simply a case of my hands typeth faster than my brain thinketh

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Steve,
My concept was not to be a guide but rather the ponderings of a newbie who will likley face what every newbie might. In the end it would not instruct people what to do but rather something they could read that would be similar to the questions and trials they would experience and make them seek info and experiemnt much as you would on your journey.

Lynn has offered many paths to sucess in his DVD and we each (yes, even us old hands) take from it the path that works for us. I'd just like to see a piece on WHY someone chooses one path over another and how it worked or didn't for them.

Tony

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Steve,
My concept was not to be a guide but rather the ponderings of a newbie who will likley face what every newbie might. In the end it would not instruct people what to do but rather something they could read that would be similar to the questions and trials they would experience and make them seek info and experiemnt much as you would on your journey.

Lynn has offered many paths to sucess in his DVD and we each (yes, even us old hands) take from it the path that works for us. I'd just like to see a piece on WHY someone chooses one path over another and how it worked or didn't for them.

Tony

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Tony,

I appreciate the clarification. I guess I just didn't want to step on any toes or show disrespect.

So, "the ponderings of a newbie", huh? Maybe Xman can suggest a title. I'm thinking a rip off on a Shakespeare quote..."Oh, for a muse of lather" :D

Well, I guess I don't mind giving a try so long as we all understand this is not ever intended as a guide, but just what you said, ponderings..

Steve

Steve,

This could be really cool, especially if you include links in the text to threads where you posed questions and had them answered. There was a really good thread that X started a long time ago that showed his progression from a honing novice to lead singer of the Rolling Hones. It was really instructive and encouraging to me when I was getting started.

Just a thought,
Josh

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Steve,

This could be really cool, especially if you include links in the text to threads where you posed questions and had them answered. There was a really good thread that X started a long time ago that showed his progression from a honing novice to lead singer of the Rolling Hones. It was really instructive and encouraging to me when I was getting started.

Just a thought,
Josh

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Oh no, ---The Rolling Hones???? the only reason I groan at that is because I didn't think of it first :cry:

You have a good idea Josh, there are definatley some threads I would include as well as article links.

Alright then, let me think about some things and reply tomorrow. This seems like it's turning out to be a little more that I had thought and I want to be sure I have some sort of outline to guide myself by.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and suggestions. As for now, I'm off to class.

The rolling stones, well I had no idea, then X is the guy who fell out of that tree?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The rolling stones, well I had no idea, then X is the guy who fell out of that tree?

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uhm ... actually, I'm just the guy who gathers no moss. That's 'cuz I learned to let my hones dry out properly. ;) And this is the thread which lead to my blog (linked below). Let's keep it all goin'!:tu

X

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xman

uhm ... actually, I'm just the guy who gathers no moss. That's 'cuz I learned to let my hones dry out properly. ;) And this is the thread which lead to my blog (linked below). Let's keep it all goin'!:tu

X

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X, thanks for posted that thread. I'm going to read that through as it will be a great education in honing.

OK, y'all. Go see: The Ponderings of a Beginner

Quote:

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Originally Posted by steve

Oh no, ---The Rolling Hones???? the only reason I groan at that is because I didn't think of it first :cry:

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I generally agree with Mark Twain that the pun is the lowest form of humor, but I was in a mood yesterday... :D

The first entry on your thread looks good, Steve. Keep it up.

Josh

thanks Josh, now as to your pun mood yesterday:

Get thee to a punnery :D